


Scraggly

by serialkarma



Category: Cupid (TV 1998)
Genre: F/M, Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-08
Updated: 2013-10-08
Packaged: 2017-12-28 19:13:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/995513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serialkarma/pseuds/serialkarma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five o'clock shadows are sexy...from a distance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scraggly

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'ed (but spell-checked!). ♥ to [](http://hackthis.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://hackthis.livejournal.com/)**hackthis** , who indulges me in so many things.

I recently went slightly insane and signed up for [a challenge](http://community.livejournal.com/episode1x10/profile), even though I haven't written fic in, like, a YEAR. (And then it was Cupid too, so this appears to be my new fandom, through which I am moving at something approaching the pace of a glacier.)

So this is in the line of a warm-up, of sorts. My darling [](http://hackthis.livejournal.com/profile)[**hackthis**](http://hackthis.livejournal.com/) gave me five words the other day, and I'm going to try to write *something* for each of them. We'll see how that goes.

Title: **Scraggly**  
Pairing: Alex/Claire  
Rating: PG-13  
Summary: Five o'clock shadows are sexy...from a distance.

It turns out Alex doesn’t like to shave on the weekends. Since he’s a five-o’clock-shadow-by-noon kind of guy, this means that by Monday morning he’s usually got a pretty respectable beard coming in. And good as he looks with a beard, the intervening 48 hours sometimes leave a lot to be desired, at least in Claire’s book.

She sighs as she inspects herself in the bathroom mirror. There are pink, itchy, raw spots under her chin, at the bends of both elbows; there’s a long scratch right at the top of her sternum and streaks across her belly—even one on the back of her left knee. That one actually _hurts_.

She sigHs and opens the medicine cabinet for a bottle of aloe. When she closes it Alex’s reflection has appeared in the mirror behind hers and she yelps in surprise. “Oh, jesus, Alex, I didn’t even hear you!”

He waggles his eyebrows at her reflection and grins. “I have magical powers of stealth you know nothing about.” He pulls her against him and pretends to bite her neck, vampire-like. But his beard rubs at an already sore spot and Claire winces and pulls away.

“Oh, no, mister, no more until you shave that scraggly thing off your face!” That’s not fair, it’s not really scraggly at all, but she’s had enough.

Alex looks at her in surprise. “What, this? I thought you liked the beard.” His hand goes to his chin defensively, like the beard might need protection from _her_ , when it’s clearly the other way round.

“I think you look very nice, yes, but Alex look at _me_.” She gestures to her naked, splotchy body, and his eyes gleam appreciatively as they follow her hand. Then he actually _looks_ at her and notices the red marks and frowns with concern.

“Aw, jeez, is that all from—?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry.” He reaches out with one finger and gently, gently traces over the splotch on her jaw, trails down to the one on her chest. Claire shivers a tiny bit. Then he, still gently and so, so carefully, like she’s a soap bubble that might pop out of existence if he’s not, leans forward and kisses the burn on her breastbone. By now his beard is quite soft, actually, but her skin is so sensitive there that it tickles and she flinches involuntarily, just the tiniest bit.

Alex pulls back immediately and kisses her forehead in apology, then takes the bottle of aloe from her and squeezes a huge dollop into his palm. He rubs his hands together and then, still so gently, he starts rubbing it on all the beard marks, starting at her jaw. “I’ll start shaving more often,” he says as he works.

“Or you could let it grow,” Claire suggests.

“Yeah?” He looks at himself in the mirror, cranes his neck back and forth. “You think it would look all right?”

“I think you’d look very distinguished.”

Alex’s eyes narrow. “Distinguished, huh? That’s just a nice way of saying _old_.”

Claire huffs. “Please, Alex, you are not old. You’re a year younger than I am, for heaven’s sake. What does that make me?”

“Mrs. Robinson?” He widens his eyes at her hopefully. Claire goes to swat at his head in righteous indignation and he dodges her, dropping the aloe on his toe, and a short scuffle ensues. It ends with him pulling her back against him and looking at them both in the mirror.

“Nope, it’s no good.” His grin is half-hidden in her hair. “This thing is coming off.” He bends down and picks up the discarded aloe, and while he’s down there he starts rubbing it on the itchy sore spot on the back of her knee. Claire turns around and runs her fingers through his hair. It’s soft and surprisingly fine, hairs catching on the rough spot on her finger and sticking to her slightly damp palm. He looks up at her and grins, then, and his hands move.

“You know, Alex, I don’t remember beard burn _there_.” She bites her lip, trying to look stern, and gives the hair at the back of his neck a tiny little tug.

His grin turns even more wicked and his hands move again, with very deliberate intent. She draws her breath in, trying to stifle a gasp.

“Are you sure?” he murmurs. “I want to be thorough, here. It’s the least I can do, after all. Maybe I should check more closely.”

“Oh, well, if it’s the _least_ you can do…” she says. Alex guides her to sit on the lowered toilet lid and he kneels between her thighs.

“Thoroughness is very important to me, you know,” he says as he lowers head and proceeds to, oh so carefully, be very thorough indeed.

**end**

Notes: Unbeta'ed (but spell-checked!). ♥ to [](http://hackthis.livejournal.com/profile)[**hackthis**](http://hackthis.livejournal.com/), who indulges me in so many things.


End file.
